TED on Sunday: Majora Carter on Environmental Justice

May 03, 2009

In this dynamic, emotional talk, MacArthur Award-winning activist Majora Carter tells the story of the South Bronx, the New York City neighborhood that had long been a blighted, crime-ridden dumping ground for the city's waste and industrial eyesores. Thanks in large part to the visionary Carter and a handful of allies in government and the philanthropic commnity, the neighborhood has experienced a rebirth that has helped catalyze a grassroots environmental justice movement across the country. In her talk, Carter reminds us that economic degradation begets environmental degradation which begets social degradation; and that -- unlike the new Yankee Stadium -- all future development in urban areas must embrace a triple bottom line ("people, the planet, profits"). As Carter likes to say, It's time to put people first. (Filmed: February 2006; Running time: 18:36)